FORA.tv Speaker - Jim Hansen

Biography

Jim Hansen has been at the center of the climate change debate since the early 1980s as both a prominent scientist and spokesman alerting the public to the threats and uncertainties of global climate change. The head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Hansen studies radiative transfer in planetary atmospheres related to global change on Earth.
He is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University. Hansen's numerous awards include the Heinz Environment Award and the Dan David Prize. His public policy experience has been punctuated by Congressional hearings as well as his advocacy to reduce fossil fuel dependency. He has been instrumental in alerting the public to how science has been politicized in its translation to government policy.
In 2005, Hansen stated that NASA administrators restricted his ability to communicate directly with the public and censored his findings about the threats of global climate change. In a subsequent report, NASA's inspector general acknowledged the agency had marginalized and mischaracterized climate change science.
Hansen has written several books and numerous scientific papers on climate change and maintains that by dealing directly with the causes, we will benefit from cleaner air and water as well as growth of high-tech industries.